The global carbon cycle is heavily influenced by the activities of humans. For example, the combustion of fuels by human is believed to have resulted in a large increase in the amount of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere. In the last hundred years, global fossil carbon emissions have increased by more than a factor of ten. As nations around the globe continue to become more industrialized, demands for energy are expected to increase dramatically. As such, in the absence of new technological solutions, it is believed that the trend toward increased fossil carbon emissions will continue.
Carbon dioxide is considered to be a “greenhouse” gas and is believed to have contributed to global warming trends. Carbon dioxide, along with water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone, causes more heat to be retained by the Earth than would otherwise be captured. The global average air temperature near the Earth's surface rose 0.74±0.18° C. during the last 100 years. It is believed that this is due, at least in part, to the observed increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. Further increases in global temperatures may lead to various catastrophic effects including a rising sea level, increased extreme weather events, reduced agricultural yields, glacier retreat, and species extinction, amongst others.
In an effort to prevent catastrophic events from occurring, significant resources have been devoted to developing systems to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. However, many existing systems have various issues relating to cost, throughput, robustness, and the like.